The Courtship of the Masses

"You can have brilliant idea, but if you can't get those ideas across, they don't do anybody any good." - Lee Iacocca

From the archives of psychological literature we further our understanding of human nature. Even though we know a tremendous amount about human behavior - how to change, how to influence, how to become; we seldom make complete use of such information. What's even more difficult is communicating the vast amount of knowledge we have of psychology to others for their practical use. This dilemma is the proverbial Gordian Knot that must be cut with effective communication.

Any idea, any information, and any solution for that matter is worthless unless properly communicated in an understandable format to our audience. Whether we're dealing with a client in business, or constituency as a politician, a teacher to a student, or a parent to a child; we must acknowledge and effectively deal with this problem. An effective communicator is first and foremost adaptable.

That is, he/she able to find common ground with whomever they communicate with. For example, the most effective way to build rapport and communicate with a child would not be to act professional and proper. The best way would be to play the games they play. The effective communicator can enter the child's world and play whatever a child plays.

From this example we can see that the limiting factor in being able to communicate effectively is one's ability to enter another's world. To learn the "reality" they inhabit, and to be curious and interested in learning more about it. Too often, our laziness forces us to try to impose our reality on others. This is by far the worst way to effectively communicate, and is a sign of a limited communicator.

By definition an effective communicator is versatile, and thus is supposed to be the most flexible in his/her ability to communicate. Legendary psychotherapists of modern times such as Fritz Perls, Milton Erickson, Virginia Satir, Richard Bandler, John Grinder, and Anthony Robbins all share this flexibility in common. A common definition associated with "pathological" individuals is the inability to see outside their own reality. In essence, the extreme form of this inability to see other people's maps of reality is thought of as pathological. In fact, Timothy Leary's model of Interpersonal Dynamics is based on such a principle, and has been used widely as a psychometric.

A recent sales book I read dismissed the idea of trying to find commonality and to enter into the world of the buyer. Though it might work effectively for some, that does not mean it is the most effective. And based on boatloads of research from business schools, psychology departments, and optimal sales forces, the consensus stand on the value of increasing adaptability and using it to enter the world of our audience. I caution, however, that to enter does not mean to mislead, or to become a copycat. It means to surrender your rigid views for moments in time to expand your awareness of others, and thus be able to understand and provide value to those you wish to engage with. Ultimately the end result will be the ability to effectively sell your product, service, idea, reform, or what have you.

Angel Armendariz

What is a System of Profound Knowledge?

"The first step is transformation of the individual. This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people." - W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming was an iconic figure in 20th century business management. I figurehead whom the Japanese regard as the symbol their industrial rebirth, and economic worldwide success. Deming advocated what he termed "A system of profound knowledge." His system of profound knowledge was broken down to the following 4 principles:

1) Appreciation of a System
2) Knowledge of variation
3) Theory of Knowledge
4) Knowledge of Psychology

Deming observed that an organization that is governed through a system of profound knowledge, purposefully and consistently, will thrive off of the continual improvement that is nurtured through such a system. He believed that an organization must begin with each individual and in a sense allow them to see their meaningful impact on the development of the whole organization. The opposite of which would be what most of us know as "compartmentalization" - that is, where we only see and know what we must do, and know nothing else of how we interrelate with the whole of the enterprise.

Deming insisted that employees where to a large extent constrained by the system they worked in. Management's role as such, must revolve around maximizing the development of the system, and the proper role of each employee for the proper functioning of the system. And, that each employee possessed a unique endowment that must be understood by management to properly engage the individual from his area of strength.

The thorough understanding of the intricacies of systems, control processes, and meaningful variables allowed Deming to contribute his theories not only to businesses, but also as a template for education and government reform.

One Deming's most famous dictum is that of "continuous improvement" or kaizen in Japanese. He advocated a purposeful consistency based on continuous improvement. The reasoning involved not only enhanced capacity and innovation, but accordingly costs would ultimately lower as a side-effect of a focus on quality and continuous improvement.

A debt of gratitude to an individual who took profound knowledge to a new level.

Angel Armendariz

Tuning Your Mind State For Ultra Communication

"Every enhancement of life enhances man's power of communication, as well as his power of understanding."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, Will To Power

Choose the most effective states of mind, as you awaken, as you go about your day, as you face challenges, as you go to bed. Your state of mind will decide what opportunities you seize. It will decide how resourceful you are and it will allow you to spot meaningful coincidences.

By having a list of questions to ask you actively choose to create the most powerful mind states to accomplish your moment-to-moment intentions. Your state of mind can be thought of as your intensity of mood plus your expectation or outlook. As you rehearse your list of questions on a daily basis, they will soon enough become habitual. After all we continually ask ourselves questions throughout the day that create a mood for us. The problem, is that we usually ask the same questions, and repeat the same moods, or worse, we ask dis-empowering questions that prevent effective action.

Choose questions that will allow you to experience the successes you've had
and what you're most happy about currently. You can ask, "What am I most proud about right now?", or "What possibility most excites me right now?" Once you have a powerful mind state you become open to bountiful possibilities.

An interesting metaphor to consider is a communication device, like a radio or cell phone. A communication device is a "receiver" and "transmitter." However, to properly "receive" or "transmit" the intended message the device needs to be properly tuned. That is, noise has to be eliminated, and the channels need to be open and calibrated. We naturally wish to communicate or transmit ourselves to others congruently. We also wish to be able to "receive" or understand the messages that are being sent to us.

The only way we can tune ourselves, is by first calibrating our mind state to a positive one. One that is receptive to receiving, and one that is capable of transmitting effective and efficient signals. A state of mind that expects success, that feels free, that extends love, that anticipates a win, is an example of a powerful empowering mind state. If our mind state is negative, then effective transmission of our signals is cut off, regardless of how much we desire to communicate the message. Additionally, if our mind state is negative, we become rigid and incapable of receiving a message, regardless of how beneficial or important it might have been for us. Our specific dependence on this continual communication implores us to master our mind state and habituate them to properly enhance the grandeur of our lives.

Angel Armendariz

Playing The Role - a Lesson from a French Emperor

The effective use of your body is extremely extensive. Actors for instance learn the necessity of adjusting their bodies to convey or communicate roles and status. For instance wide stance with an elevated forward chin enhances status. It tells the audience that you're somebody. On the flip side by adjusting your feet to be pigeon-toed, keeping your head tilted down slightly, and collapsing your chest signifies lowered status.

These are two extreme forms of using your body to convey status, but the discrete use of such subtleties allows you to adjust your role accordingly. For instance if you are meeting with a high powered attorney to discuss tempered litigation, and you want to show dominance and status, then you can act in a more dominant matter by allowing your chin to be forward, head high and standing tall. Additionally you can take up more physical space; this is a signifier of status and importance, typically used in acting scenes to make the actor appear larger than himself.

If on the other hand, you want to play a submissive role strategically, then you can consciously close in your space a little. You can narrow your space and bring in your shoulders slightly. A leveled or slightly below level chin will suffice to show submissiveness. Acting submissively does not mean you are, or that you will allow yourself to be steamrolled. It is used as a strategy to engage the other party on their own terms, giving you the ability to position yourself in a more subtle fashion. Additionally, playing a slightly submissive or cooperative role is one of the best ways to disarm whomever you are dealing with.

Napoleon, the infamous French emperor, used such a strategy against the Austrian and Russian armies in the battle of Austerlitz. After having received intelligence that Napoleon appeared confused, and had assumed a defensive position, the Austrain/Russian forces descended for the kill. Napoleon had staged a perfect submissive role, and by making the enemies believe he was submitting, he made them fall right into his trap. The outcome was one of Napoleon's most impressive victories.

Keeping the Grand Strategy in mind, that is, by keeping the end in mind; you can choose the appropriate strategy to gain advance towards your preferred outcome.
(excerpt from upcoming book on Communication)

Angel Armendariz

The Result of Creating Patterns of Success

Confidence - the result of creating patterns of success over time.

Confidence is the state of mind necessary for effective action, courage, and execution. The degree of confidence someone has is directly proportional to the sum of successes one has had. The more successes the more confidence. Recency also plays a role; if we've had great success recently our immediate confidence skews high. If we've had recent failures our confidence skews low. Though we tend to let personal experiences and random circumstances decide our confidence, we must realize that confidence is a variable under our direct control.

I've seen first hand what the damage in personal confidence can do to individuals. I've witnessed top sales performers flipped into vulnerable incompetents because of the inability to properly refine their confidence. In relationships loss of confidence tends to lead us backwards and we may seek to rekindle half-hearted romances that were never really what we wanted. Confidence is a very real and very powerful quality that must be managed and developed as much as other crucial faculties for personal, business, and social efficacy.

There is a huge tool at our disposal that we rarely make use of. That tool is our minds. More accurately, our ability to experience a scenario in our minds. Countless studies, and anecdotal reports from high performers, has confirmed that actively experiencing a success in our minds is almost equivalent to actually having the experience. Neurological studies have confirmed that through active imagination the same areas of the brain become active that become active during a real experience.

The thing to realize is that we all have different ways of visualizing. Some of us "feel" experiences. Others "hear" or "see" experience. Usually it's a mixture of all three. To properly calibrate your most effective form of visualizing you can simply recall, as vividly as possible, a time when you experienced supreme confidence. Analyze the way your recall this experience, and re-experience it in detail. Use that template to craft new experiences of success in your mind.

Napoleon Bonaparte for example, visualized his goals in intense details. In the beginning of the campaign he could see its last battle clearly in his mind. He would point out the exact spot it would end, his predictions proved uncannily correct on an ongoing basis.

Create the patterns of success in your mind, repeat it, and perfect it in your mind as well as in reality.

Angel Armendariz

Beyond Good and Bad

Beyond Good and Bad
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Experience is utility. Utility is the value of a thing to be used for certain ends - basically its usefulness. For example a set of tools are 'utilized' to perform certain mechanical tasks. Experience in and of itself has utility. What I mean by this is that every experience serves as a tool for use to expand our possibilities.

Often, we filter our experiences through a lens that tags circumstances and situations with a 'bad' label or 'good' label. This way of thinking is ancient. Ancient in the sense that it is obsolete and dangerous. To truly make utility out of experience we must create new filters through which we can 'see' reality through a pragmatic lens.

We can see value and utility in all experiences by asking questions that guide our awareness and focus. For example, instead of presupposing a situation is good or bad, you can ask "how is this situation useful.' Also, we can ask 'what opportunities does this situation present?'

By stopping yourself short of analyzing a situation as good or bad, it gives you a chance to apply a new filter and gradually acquire a habit that will increase your quality of life.

- Angel Armendariz